The monkey manager had just finished managing the money the Mumbling Mice made when the mice knocked on his office door.
“Might we have a word?” asked Michael, the lead Mumbler.
“Michael, my good man,” replied the monkey. “Of course, of course!”
“My Mumblers and me were wondering if we might try something a bit different tonight.”
“You mean, no mumbling?” asked the monkey.
“My my, no,” mumbled another mouse. “Mumbling is our mantra.”
“Maybe mumbling without the music,” mused the monkey.
“Music-less mumbling,” repeated a third mouse. “Exactly!”
“But not mumbling,” added the fourth mouse. “I think my mother called it humming.”
“Hmm, humming,” said the monkey as he mulled it over. “It could work. Magical, even. Humble humming from the Mumbling Mice. Makes for a merry headline.”
The Mumbling Mice smiled. They hadn’t thought of the morning reviews, but that was why the monkey was their manager: money was just one of his many talents.
“Besides,” added the monkey, “Mister Mark from Mighty Mouse Records might be here, so make me proud.”
And so that night the mice hummed and mumbled without music, and the music wasn’t missed. The mice in the crowd smiled merrily as the melodies from each Mumbler magically melded, and more than a few mice remarked that tonight’s mumbling was more magnificent than any other they’d heard, much more.
The next morning, Mister Mark from Mighty Mouse Records called the Mumbling Mice for a meeting, and by May the monkey had managed a contract.
The Mumblers soared to number one, and mice everywhere began to mumble along with whatever Mumbler song that made it on the radio, and so they smiled. And when the Mumbling Mice became the most famous mice in all the world, the monkey smiled, because for him and his Mumblers, it was always about more than just the money. It was about making music, mighty fine music that moved mice and made mice smile, and that was what just what they had made.
(dtn)
A life of we 